


Restraining

by SolangeloFan17



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse of the Line Break button, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Children's Literature, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, M/M, Ransom, Running Away, Slow Burn, So nothing sexual, Space Mom Allura (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), The Whipping Boy AU, This is meant to be a PG fic, Whipping, hopefully, if I'm patient, klance friendship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25883041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolangeloFan17/pseuds/SolangeloFan17
Summary: The prince rolled his eyes. “I’m running away, and you’re coming with me” he repeated, ripping Lance’s blanket off him.“Why are you running away?” he asked, shifting in bed uncomfortably.“I’m bored of this place”“What? Don’t you have fun torturing and pranking poor people?”“Boring. Let’s go”. The prince swung his feet out of the window and jumped down. As if possessed by some weird nighttime spirit, Lance followed him.Or, in which Lance has to go on an adventure when all he wanted was to go to sleep and not send the kingdom into a nationwide panic.
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 25





	1. In Which a Prince and a Whippping Boy have a Rocky Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction was kinda based off of a book that I had to read when I was younger. I found it later, though, and thought that I could make this extra gay, resulting in...this.

Lance was roughly shaken awake by a soldier clad in the official royal crest of the Galra Empire.

"Again? What did he do today?” he groaned, wishing to go back to dreams of peacefully rat-catching in the sewers.

The soldier sighed, probably having done this around a hundred times, “We should go, as to not keep the royals waiting” he answered, evading the question completely.

Lance trudged behind him to the throne room, where the whipping boy, as Lance was called by everybody else, was greeted with the familiar sight of the king crossing his arms and glaring at Prince Keith, who was staring back, lavender eyes glimmering defiantly. The guests situated at the dining table were all exposed in their bald glory, their wigs glued to their seats, which at least Lance could clarify to mean that the prince played yet _another_ prank again.

The King, Lotor, called for twenty whacks to Lance, meaning he got whipped twenty times to punish the prince. This practice may seem queer, but princes were royalty, and were to be treated as such, meaning not a hair on their heads could be harmed, even if they deserved it.

Lance squared his jaw and gulped back his body’s screams of pain as he got the thrashings. Lotor turned to the prince, anger still blazing. “I hope you’ve learned your lesson” he stated curtly, turning away.

The prince turned to Lance, his eyes still brimming with anger, then he spun on his heel, following his father.

* * *

Later, the prince confronted the whipping boy in his bedroom. 

“Why do you never bawl like a normal whipping boy? At least try to scream and shout a little!” he growled, throwing a pillow at Lance, who was lying awake in bed, ignoring the other boy.

“Okay, if that’s how this is, the next time you stay silent when you get your whipping, you will be thrown out into the streets again!” Keith slammed the door shut behind him.

_Good,_ Lance thought, _Soon, I’ll be back rat-catching, with not a trouble in mind._

* * *

Another day went by, the prince skipping class for training with his knives again. He was dragged into class a few minutes later, pouting at the Master Shirogane, who didn't even relent when the prince shot him a glare. Unlike everybody else, the professor was not scared of the prince, for he considered him human, which Lance never understood. The prince was a heartless man, even labeled with the moniker Prince Stoneheart, which all the villagers called him behind the royals’ backs.

The master sighed, pinching his nose. “If you keep on skipping your lessons to practice knife-throwing, you’ll never be fit to rule a kingdom. When will you get this?” 

“I can order somebody to read and write for me. Probably if I got some beatings, I would learn my lesson?” he finished innocently, as if he was the one getting whipped. Shiro glanced at Lance (ha, that rhymed!) with an indecipherable expression, gesturing for the whipper to come.

The whippings hurt like fresh burns from a fire, but Lance bit his lip and squared his jaw with each blow. When being escorted back to his room, he caught a glance at the prince’s face, stony with suppressed anger, and did not feel bad at all for what he did.

* * *

The prince broke into Lance’s room again that night, wearing a black cape and holding a silver dagger sheath.

“We’re going to run away” he announced.

Lance was confused and his sleep-deprived brain answered with a “Wha-?”

The prince rolled his eyes. “I’m running away, and you’re coming with me” he repeated, ripping Lance’s blanket off him.

“Why are you running away?” he asked, shifting in bed uncomfortably.

“I’m bored of this place” 

“What? Don’t you have fun torturing and pranking poor people?”

“Boring. Let’s go”. The prince swung his feet out of the window and jumped down. As if possessed by some weird nighttime spirit, Lance followed him.


	2. In Which They Get Captured by Nyma and Rolo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The real prince was about to open his mouth, except Lance interfered, an idea forming in his head. 
> 
> “They’re onto us, Keith” he said, the name unfamiliar-sounding in his mouth. The prince also looked a bit taken aback.
> 
> “Here, I’ll sign it” he said, turning to them, “How does ‘To His Royal Highness, my Dad?’ sound?”
> 
> Rolo licked his lips,”That sounds very good”
> 
> Or: I actually update and WHY DO I PUT SO MANY LINEBREAKS IN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy! It's ya girl with another update. I tried to make it like the book...but I hope it doesn't go too overboard.

Lance jumped up onto the horse behind the prince, holding his breath and wondering whether it was too late to reconsider his life.

“You know, you can put your hands around my waist. I don’t bite”

_ You do stab, though. And stab hard. I should know. _

He still put his hands around the prince’s waist, hesitantly. The prince made an impatient noise and grabbed Lance’s hands, wrapping them around him forcefully. Fog curled around them, blocking everything from view. And then the prince started growling, thrashing around.

“Get OFF me!” The fog cleared up, showing Keith struggling pointlessly in the hands of a buff dude with a beanie and ripped vest. A woman with dirty blonde ponytails and wide purple eyes slung a club over her shoulder menacingly.

“You guys are coming with us.”

“Hey, Nyma! Check out the clothes on these guys! They’re rich!”

The blonde-haired woman, Nyma, smirked. “Look at this, Rolo. The royal crest. They’re from the palace” she remarked, holding up the horse’s saddle. “How much do you want to bet that we just kidnapped the runaway prince and his whipping boy?”

“As much as this costs.” Rolo came out of the fog, holding a silver sheath, with an amethyst embedded in the center. The prince’s blade. He threw it to Nyma.

She caught the blade, and turned around, holding the horse’s bridle, ignoring the glare the prince was sending her.

* * *

“Welcome to our humble castle, your Royal Highness” Nyma snarked, opening the door to reveal a dirt floor with a rotting wood table in the middle. There was a pile in the corner of knicknacks, ranging from gold bangles to cuckoo clocks to silver coins. The whole place smelled of dead rats, which was a scent Lance was all too familiar with.

The two were dumped unceremoniously on the hut ground, and they immediately scrambled over to the benches, so as not to touch the suspicious green fuzzy stuff growing on the ground.

“We need you to sign this” Rolo whipped out a ransom note “ransom note”

The prince reached out for the pen, but his hand was batted away by Nyma’s.

“Not you. You’re not the prince” she pointed at Lance “He is”

“No, I am!”

“Let’s be real here, you got the temperament of a wild boar. The royal family is known for their kindness and generosity. Now, sign this, prince” Nyma pressed the pen into Lance’s hand.

The real prince was about to open his mouth, except Lance interfered, an idea forming in his head. 

“They’re onto us, Keith” he said, the name unfamiliar-sounding in his mouth. The prince also looked a bit taken aback.

“Here, I’ll sign it” he said, turning to them, “How does ‘To His Royal Highness, my Dad?’ sound?”

Rolo licked his lips,”That sounds very good”

* * *

A few minutes later, a threatening note was created, and the outlaws were deciding a proper ransom. 

“Ten gold coins!” Rolo shouted.

“Rolo, you fool! Ten is not enough to buy a wool sack at the market! 15 gold coins!” Nyma retaliated.

_ Think, Lance, think.  _ Lance summoned up his inner prince.

“I think I am worth my weight in gold. And jewels. I  _ am  _ a prince, after all.”

“Blimey, Nyma.  _ Jewels”  _

The ransom was put down and Lance signed it with:

_ Your Kindhearted Son _

_ Prince Keith _

Lance doubted they knew about the prince’s temper. The king would, undoubtedly, and realize something was up.

Now to get the prince back to the castle safely.

* * *

“I won’t go and deliver the ransom note to the king. My fame is known throughout the land. One look at my eyes, and off with my head!”

Lance smirked. “It won’t be off with your head...Father prefers to boil criminals in oil”

“Boiling in oil!” Nyma shivered,”That would not be good for my hair! Rolo, you go!”

“Aye, I’m afraid not. I do not entertain the idea of being boiled, either”

An idea came into Lance’s mind then.

“Why don’t you send my whipping boy, instead? With my dagger, perhaps?”

Nyma giggled uncontrollably.

“I see what you’re doing, Highness. The thing is,  _ we want that dagger _ ” she replied, her expression turning serious.

“Would you rather have a simple dagger or a hundred pounds of gold coins?” That got their attention. “If the prince’s whipping boy is sent with a ransom without proof, people will think things. Specifically that this is all a hoax. You wouldn’t want that would you?” he asked innocently, putting on his best I’m-an-innocent-prince-not-plotting-anything-here face.

Prince Keith snorted quietly.

“True. Go, whipping boy, and deliver this ransom.” Nyma handed him the dagger and the ransom note. The prince stared at Lance balefully. 

“No. I’m not doing it.”

_ Wait, what? _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheerio, my lads! Remember, comments are what a fanfic author lives for!


	3. In Which Our Protagonists Escape (filler chapter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The evolution of the Klance friendship. Never fear, the romance is yet to come, though! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agh, this is pretty short, so yeah...just a filler chapter for their escape.

Lance was sorely tempted to whisper to the prince to _frigging shut up_ and _what the heck are you doing, I’m trying to save your sorry butt, okay?_ The fact he didn’t should’ve earned _him_ his weight in gold and jewels _._

The two highwaymen(or highway people?) went out to discuss the matter. The prince crossed his arms sullenly. 

“Hey!” the prince’s head whipped around,”why won’t you go back to the palace? That was your chance to escape!” Lance whispered furiously.

“I’m not leaving without you, idiot.”

“Wha-why?! I’m just a whipping boy. Replaceable, my prince.”

“No, stupid. You’re my friend. I’ve had more fun with you than I’ve ever had in the palace. And call me Keith.”

“Okay, _Keith._ If you haven’t noticed, Nyma and Rolo won’t argue forever. We need a plan”

“Hide”

“What? No, why?”

“ _HIDE!_ They’re coming back. I’ve got a plan”

Lance dove into a nearby bale of straw and tried to stay quiet, straining his ears to hear.

“Where’s the prince, whipping boy? Tell us, quickly, or else Rolo here will show you his Monday routine.” He could hear Rolo cracking his knuckles menacingly.

“He ran out and abandoned me” Lance could hear the betrayal and fear in his voice. Man, Keith’s a good actor.

“That pesky devil! He booked it when he had the chance, didn’t he” Nyma groaned. Lance exhaled slowly, inhaling some dust from the dirt floor. He started coughing.

The purple-eyed highwayman(or woman?) whirled around, swinging her club at the spot Lance’s head was before. He ducked and sprinted out the door, Keith following him closely behind after grabbing his damn knife.

They ran in pursuit until Lance saw them. Four piles of four-legged fur. He shrieked and scrambled in the other direction, Keith blindly following him. After reaching a grove surrounded with tall trees, they stopped, panting.

“I- I cannot _believe_ you’re scared of mice. Weren’t you catching them before?” Keith managed to gasp out between pants, whether of laughter or exhaustion Lance was not sure and did not care. 

“I was catching rats! There’s a difference, Mullet”

“Mullet? Are you comparing me to a fish?”

“Wha-no! Your hair! My dad’s grandpa’s friend used to have one back when it was cool!” 

“My hair is _not_ a mullet.” Keith pinched his nose, exasperated.

“Sure. Keep saying that to yourself.”

* * *

“I’m really sorry for interrupting your moment, but have you guys seen my mice?” A girl with flowing white hair stepped into the clearing, holding a block of cheese and a hat. “The pesky devils escaped”

Lance got up shakily, feeling his heart shaking like tectonic plates. The girl was pretty. “Your pesky devils ran off that way. Gave me a fright.”

“Thank you, strangers. What may you be doing here, in the middle of the forest?”

“Do you know where the river is?” 

“South!”

“Which way is south?” Lance had completely forgotten the layout of the forest in his time spent in the palace, to his shock.

“Straight forward”

“Are you sure?” Keith asked, scratching his head sheepishly. Seeing Keith act so...normal made Lance feel something. He was not sure what, but it was something.

“I’m sure as my name’s Allura.”

“Nice to meet you, Allura” the runaway prince finished with an unusual show of politeness before following Lance.

* * *

Keith saw them first, tugging Lance into a bush near him. 

Lance hissed, “What, man? Those soldiers are looking for you; you can go back now! To the palace! What are you waiting for?”

“There’s a reason I ran away, Lance!”

“Yeah, besides making your dad more stressed than he already is?”

“I’m as noticeable to him as a stuffed boar.”

“...” Lance didn’t know what to say to that statement, because it was true, unfortunately.

Keith sighed. “Forget it, okay?”

The two runaways sat for a while in awkward silence, waiting for all of the soldiers to pass them. Keith broke the tension first.

“Di-did you have any friends back on the streets?”

Lance fiddled with the hem of his tunic. “Lots. Why?”

“I had none while in that palace. Now I have one.” Keith’s mouth curled up in what Lance would consider as a smile. Lance smiled back, hesitantly.

“C’mon friend. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I-I can't believe I made a science metaphor, what is my life coming to honestly.
> 
> -Remember, comments are an author's livelihood!


	4. In Which the Two Gays Encounter Old Foes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance turned around and saw an orange-haired man wearing a leather eye-patch. He was holding reins attached to the bridles of two donkeys, both of which were pulling a wooden carriage. It was painted blue, with faded yellow letters spelling out something.
> 
> Coran
> 
> Hot-Potato Man
> 
> The whipping boy considered the fact that a potato-seller was not the weirdest career he came across, considering the fact that he used to live on catching rats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, there fellow masochists! Sorry it's been so long...school and all. So I give you another short chapter as an offering of sorts.
> 
> *gestures to chapter*
> 
> Enjoy!

Lance immediately ran over to the discarded trash dump. He scrambled around for firewood or something that would be of use, collecting several barrel staves and ship masts in the process.

“Have you gone mad?” Keith tilted his head confusedly.

“If I’ve gone mad, at least I’m trying to get us some money. People dig old stuff like this. Firewood” He said, waving a bushel of sticks, “is an easy profit, man. Dumpsters like these are land mines!”

The former prince got down on the ground immediately, searching for spare parts.

* * *

“My eye must be deceiving me, but do I see two young lads walking down to the fair?” a man, with what sounded like a Scottish accent, cried out. 

Lance turned around and saw an orange-haired man wearing a leather eye-patch. He was holding reins attached to the bridles of two donkeys, both of which were pulling a carriage. The carriage was painted blue, with faded yellow letters spelling out something.

_**Coran** _

_**Hot-Potato Man** _

The whipping boy considered the fact that a potato-seller was not the weirdest career he came across, considering the fact that he used to live on catching rats.

“Yeah! Will you allow us to ride in your carriage to the fair? I can put these barrel staves beneath your wheels if you want.” Keith answered for Lance, with a show of politeness that seemed to suit him more.

The hot-potato man nodded at them. “The name’s Coran.” 

Well, duh.

* * *

“Stop the wagon, old man!” a distinctly familiar voice cried out, and Lance wanted to groan. Nyma. He’d bet his life savings that Rolo was with her too. 

He started to dig potatoes around him to create a Lance-shaped hole, which he hid himself into. Keith got the memo and started helping to cover him up.

After a cauldron was slung over the pile to cover up Lance, the carriage door opened.

“You, whipping boy! Where’s your master?” Lance could hear Keith’s breath hitch.

“He-he ran away! Dove into the river and swum to the other side.” the prince stammered.

Later, the real whipping boy would have to congratulate Keith on his horrible acting skills. Assuming they got out of this situation alive.

“Swimming in the river! He’d need gills.” And a few seconds later Lance was yanked out of his hiding spot by a big burly hand. His eyes met drawn-out dilated yellow sclera.

Lance and Keith were slung on Rolo’s back and taken to the clearing near the river. 

“Put 'em down, Rolo. I’ve wanted to use this bad boy ever since I stole it from that potato man. They won’t know what hit em.”

Rolo chuckled. “Oh yeah, because you’ll hit him with a whip and all? That’s a good joke, Nyma.”

The highwayman(woman?) ignored him, grabbing Keith. “You oaf, help me! Dangle him, preferably upside-down, just like they did it at his _castle_.”

Lance had no idea how to get out of this situation. He was also kinda regretting lying to the highwaymen(people?) in the first place. He watched mournfully as the whip sliced across the air and hit Keith’s back with a loud THWACK.

No sound came from the other boy, who remained expressionless, biting his lip defiantly.

Nyma growled. “Well, if that’s how you’re playing it, _boy,_ I’ll just whip you harder!”

Several more whippings that would’ve knocked out an elephant were placed on Keith and Lance felt like screaming for him, because of _course_ the stubborn idiot wouldn’t wail or thrash around, like they wanted.

Nyma raised her new whip up and recoiled, dropping it suddenly and proceeding to roll on the ground. Several lumps were running up and down her shirt maniacally. She shrieked horrifically when one scampered up and down her spine.

“Get them off, get them off, _get them off!”_ she screamed, fainting after her short spiel. Rolo immediately dove into the river as soon as he saw his partner was out. Unfortunately, he did not have gills, neither was he naturally buoyant. 

Four little mice heads poked their heads out of Nyma’s shirt inquisitively after Rolo's frantic splashing couldn't be heard any more.

Wait... Lance recognized those mice. And if he looked back at the forest, he was pretty sure he could see a tall, white-haired girl brandishing a tambourine menacingly at Rolo's receding figure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeee, folks! Allura's back! 
> 
> Remember comments make an author's day. They also make my ego explode, but yeah! Comment! :)


	5. In which New Friends are Made and Lance is NOT scared of Mice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff happens! (not much though, tbh) People say stuff! People do stuff! People see stuff! I don't procrastinate for once! (actually I do, hehe)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter for the week because I'm lazy and high school is a pain.

“Swindlers! Whipping a poor boy like that!” Allura cursed as she treated Keith’s bruises. Lance squawked in indignation.

“We’re not even that young! We’re both taller than you!”

Lance was about to get up, but winced as the fresh bruises on his elbows painfully reminded him of their existence.

Allura immediately caught the movement like a hawk watching for prey and grabbed Lance’s arms. She then slapped him after examining the wounds. 

“That was for not telling me about this sooner!”

“Jeez, don’t hurt a man like that, Allura! I’m already suffering.” the whipping boy moaned.

Keith got up shakily. “How long does it take to go to the fair?” he asked bluntly, not making eye contact with Allura at all. _Rude._

“Oh! It takes only a few doboshes from here. I’ll come with you.” Her face left no tone for argument.

* * *

They continued through the forest until they met Coran again, who was sitting on a rock and telling his horses a story about his younger days in the infantry. The carriage’s wheels were broken again, as the barrel staves had fallen off. 

“Ahoy, there Coran!” Allura cried out, “May we stow in your carriage if we fix the wheels for you?”

“Yes, my princess!” Coran sang, jumping to his feet, sauntering off to the front of the carriage.

Lance raised his eyebrows. “Princess?”

“Old family joke. Coran is my uncle.” Allura sighed, getting into the carriage. Lance decided to sit in the front, with Coran, his choice having _nothing_ to do with the mice. _If_ it wasn’t obvious.

Lance sighed. If the carriage had to go through another check by soldiers who were _clearly_ looking for a prince and a whipping boy decked out in royal robes, he would ditch Keith, friend or not. 

The soldier finished his check, not bothering to peek in the carriage when Allura smiled at him sweetly, blushing furiously and waving them off. 

* * *

After staring at the dirt road long enough to give Lance an even bigger headache and a will to talk to somebody who wouldn’t start off into a monologue about his girlfriend back in the day, the wagon stopped at a clearing. Said clearing hosted a variety of bright red, blue, and dirty yellow tents which were currently being set up for the fair.

* * *

“Alrighty folks! I don’t host any lazers. Allura can work on her routine while you folks can fill this barrel up!” Coran rolled a wooden barrel labeled **MILK** to them.

Keith looked at the barrel, then at Coran. “How do we fill it up?”

The potato man blinked, then roared with laughter. “At the mill, of course! Kaltenecker is a milk machine! His owner is a noble lad, as well.”

* * *

Keith whispered, “Do you suppose that’s him?” 

A guy, around Lance’s age, was sitting on a three-legged stool next to a Holstein Friesian cow (yes, I googled it). The man’s skin was as dark as a coffee bean and his arms were like bazooka barrels. He glanced up, and Lance recoiled because he _knew_ that ‘noble lad’.

“Hunk!” he cried out, running into the miller’s crushing embrace. Keith stood to the side, confused.  
  


Oh, right.

Keith was forbidden to make friends with the “commoners”. Back in the castle, it almost made Lance sorry for him. 

Almost.

“Uhh, Hunk! This is my friend, Keith!” Lance jabbed Keith in the elbow and he waved weakly.

Hunk smiled graciously. “Ah, Keith! You share the name of the crown prince! A real devil, I hear, compared to the rest of the court”, he chuckled, as if he didn’t drop the biggest bomb that he could’ve in that sentence

Lance looked slightly to the side to see Keith’s reaction and almost flinched. 

He had a sinking suspicion that Keith knew. He knew what the maids and soldiers whispered behind his back, of vile tales of itching powder thrown on his aging father’s back, frogs legs in the servant’s dorms, greased saddles that caused soldiers to slide off their horses during wars, and of how the evil pranks caused his poor mother to fall to her grave.

Lance couldn't _imagine_ being called something you were not or being called out as cruel for a slightly blunt personality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm known for my chapter endings :D
> 
> Remember, comments chase away my school-induced bad dreams!


End file.
